Egypt: Mohammed Morsi insists 'I won't be another dictator'

Egypt's president Mohammed Morsi has insisted he would not be another dictator
as he tried to calm violent opposition to a decree that grants him absolute
powers.

President Mohammed Morsi speaks to supporters outside the Presidential palace in Cairo on FridayPhoto: AP

By Richard Spencer, Cairo

8:09PM GMT 25 Nov 2012

As at least one teenage protester was killed in clashes at a Muslim Brotherhood headquarters building in the northern of the country, and police continued to fight battles with protesters around Tahrir Square in Cairo on Sunday, Mr Morsi issued a statement stressing that the power seizure was only "temporary" and calling for political dialogue.

He also agreed to meet Egypt's judges on Monday to negotiate a solution to the crisis.

"The presidency reiterates the temporary nature of those measures, which are not intended to concentrate power," the statement said.

"The presidency stresses its firm commitment to engage all political forces in the inclusive democratic dialogue to reach a common ground."

Mr Morsi outraged opponents on Thursday, less than 24 hours after winning international praise for negotiating a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, by announcing that henceforth all his decisions would be beyond legal challenge.

He also unilaterally cancelled legal challenges to the committee drawing up a new constitution as well as to the upper house of parliament, both of which are dominated by his Muslim Brotherhood backers.

With no lower house of parliament until the new constitution is formed, this decree gave him stronger powers than those of his overthrown predecessor, Hosni Mubarak.

Protesters, led by liberal and left-wing secular forces, continued a sit in in Tahrir Square on Sunday. Police attempted to drive them back from side roads leading to the interior ministry and American embassy with tear gas.

Egypt’s stock market plummeted nearly 10 percent on Sunday, the first day of trading since Mr Morsi’s assumption of extra powers. The fall - halted only by automatic curbs - was the worst since the uprising that toppled Mr Mubarak in February, 2011.

Leading opposition figures including Mohammed ElBaradei, the former head of the UN International Atomic Energy Agency, Amr Moussa, the former head of the Arab League, and Abdelmoneim Aboul Fotouh, a moderate Islamist who challenged Mr Morsi for the presidency, announced the formation of a "National Salvation Front" to fight the decision.

At one stage, Egypt's judges seemed ready to force a confrontation, by declaring a countrywide strike against the declaration. The highest constitutional court also threatened to defy the president by pressing ahead with a ruling on the constitutional committee next month.

A lawyer, Shawki al-Said, also posted a legal challenge to the president's decree itself.

But by Sunday night, Egypt's supreme judicial council, which oversees the courts, stepped back from the brink, at least for the time being, and called on Egypt's judges to hold off from a strike.

It met first the justice minister, Ahmed Mekki, who had expressed opposition to Mr Morsi's statement saying he had not been consulted. But he also urged an end to the strike threat.

The state news agency said it would follow this up by meeting Mr Morsi himself.

Opponents fear that there will be clashes on Tuesday when the Muslim Brotherhood organises a counter-rally to support the president against the Tahrir Square protesters. Some even fear the military, which have taken a back seat since Mr Morsi became president in June, may use the confrontation as a excuse to step back in.

But Adel Soleiman, head of Cairo's International Centre for Future and Strategic Studies and a retired general, said that he believed in the end Mr Morsi would get his way.

"He is the elected president and he is the only elected authority in the country," he said. "I think the political role of the military is finished."